The Defenders
by Phoenix Bane
Summary: Maximum Ride meets X-Men meets Avengers. Seventeen total super-humans must learn to work together in order to defeat the oncoming evil. Post-Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel swooped around each other in wide arcs, laughing. Two red-tailed hawks flew in smooth loops, scanning the ground for prey.

Max looked down. The valley and their house were far below, but her keen eyesight could still make out the black SUV making its way toward the house.

"Guys," she said, and pointed down. "Intruder alert."

One of Fang's dark wings brushed hers as he drifted to fly directly above her. She blushed, suspecting that the small touch wasn't an accident.

"Angel? Getting anything?" Max asked the youngest flock member.

Angel concentrated for a moment. The sunlight glinted off her white wings, making her look even more like an angel.

"They don't seem dangerous, but they mean business," she reported.

"Let's check it out," Max said, then she and the rest of the flock folded their wings against their backs and aimed downward. They sped to their house's front porch in seconds and snapped out their wings, landing with soft _thuds_. The SUV had reached the house and the doors were opening.

Two people stepped out, one carrying a briefcase, one with an eye patch over his left eye. They wore serious expressions and didn't show the slightest bit of surprise when they saw six winged kids.

"Maximum Ride?" the one with the briefcase asked.

"That's me." Max stepped forward. "Who are you, what do you want, and do you have a death wish?"

If either of them were surprised by Max's version of a simple "hello," they didn't show it.

"We are both agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Briefcase said in a monotone. "There are some things we would like to… discuss with you."

"Things like what?" Max asked, intrigued, but not letting her guard down. "And what does S.H.I.E.L.D. stand for?"

"We would rather talk inside," Eye patch spoke for the first time. His voice had more feeling than Briefcase's, yet was still business-like.

Max, getting impatient, said, "We aren't stupid. If this is a trap, trust me, it won't work."

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' expressions didn't change, but Briefcase's voice was more questioning when he replied, "This isn't a trap. We aren't looking for trouble."

"Then what are you looking for?" Max asked sarcastically. "A friendship?"

"More of… an alliance."

Max narrowed her eyes suspiciously and turned to the flock. They spoke in whispers while the agents waited.

"I think we should see what they want," Nudge said, sounding excited.

"This could be dangerous," Fang pointed out. "We have no idea what S.H.I.E.L.D. is, or what it stands for."

Max looked at Angel, who didn't look like she was paying attention. "What is it, Angel? Are you picking something up?"

Angel was silent for a moment. "Yeah. Eye patch keeps kind of rethinking things, like he doesn't know if it's a good idea or something."

"If what's a good idea?" Fang asked.

A pause. Then, "Something about bringing a bunch of people together. He keeps picturing a group of four people, a robot, and a big green thing…."

Confused, Max looked down at the agents. They were waiting patiently, not even talking into their earpieces. That immediately set off alarms in her head.

"How about the other guy?" she asked.

"He's thinking about someone specific," Angel said, then stopped. "Wait a minute, he just pictured something."

She concentrated for a moment longer, then her expression changed from concentration to shock.

"What is it? What did you see?" Max demanded.

"It was a person… a man. But he had knives practically built into his hands," Angel said. "Like retractable metal claws."

The flock glanced at each other nervously.

"Maybe we should just see what they want. They seem friendly," Nudge suggested.

"'Friendly' has never really been a good descriptive word for anyone we meet," Fang said. "Max? What do you think?"

Max was running through everything in her head. Fang was right, 'friendly' was never a good word. Angel's description of what they were thinking about didn't sound good. And yet, it was still tempting to see what in the world this was all about.

"Sure," she said slowly, wondering if she should change her mind. "I guess we could hear them out."


	2. Chapter 2

A few minutes later, the two agents – Phil Coulson and Nick Fury – and the flock were sitting at the table in the flock's house.

"So," Max said. "Are you here to ask me to save the world, allow you to do experiments on me, or are you just asking me to be on TV?"

Coulson's lip twitched like he wanted to smile but had forgotten how. "No. We are gathering a group of… let's just say, super-humans. A group that we hope will be able to defeat the extraterrestrial beings we are fighting."

Max snorted. "'Extraterrestrial beings'? You expect me to believe that?"

"From what we've read about you, I'd be surprised if you didn't believe it," Nick Fury, with the eye patch, said. "Extraterrestrial beings aren't just octopus creatures and giant insects. We are talking about dangerous, deadly, supernatural _monsters_."

Angel, who had been reading his mind, looked at Max. "He isn't kidding." Then, to Fury, "What's your offer?"

Max, angry with Angel for taking control again, said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. This is ridiculous. We can't just–"

Fang tapped Max under the table and whispered, "Angel is the mind-reader here. I'm pretty sure we can trust her judgment for once."

The fact that Fang was siding with Angel hurt Max enough to make her fall silent. She looked into Fang's face, but as usual, no emotions were showing.

"We will offer you whatever you ask for," Fury replied.

Max raised her eyebrows, but Nudge blurted out, "I want a whole bunch of new clothing. Max, can we–"

Iggy and Gazzy had slapped a high-five. Now Gazzy said, "We're gonna need…." He went on with a list of chemicals and car parts that Max knew she had probably heard of before – in an explosives magazine.

"Guys, guys… slow down. We don't even know if we're doing this yet," Max pointed out. "Maybe we should think about it first."

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Angel asked, to everyone's surprise.

Max shrugged. "Sure."

She and Angel stepped into the hallway and talked in hushed voices.

"They aren't lying to us. I think it's safe," Angel said.

"What about the stuff they were picturing? Doesn't that make you nervous?"

Angel looked indifferent. "I think they were picturing other members of the group they're bringing together."

"Which means there's probably a lot of dangerous people – and from what you said, robots and big green things – in the group. We don't want to get caught up in anything involving the School."

"But it _doesn't_ involve the School. They're totally clean." Her eyes turned pleading – not a good sign. "Max, I think they could really use our help."

Max sighed. It was hard to say no to Angel. "Fine. But first sign of anything School-ish and we're out of there. Got it?"

Angel smiled and they went back to the table, Max still doubtful, but Angel's mind-reading reports reassured her enough to make the final decision.

"We'll accept your offer," she said with finality, "but if this is a trick, you will regret it."

Neither agent flinched at her threat.

"The whole group is coming together in three days," Coulson said. "We can send someone to pick you up–"

"No thanks," Max interrupted. "Just give us the coordinates and we'll fly."

Fury wrote the coordinates onto a scrap of paper for her. She looked at them and thought she knew about where they were, but shook her head, thinking she must be mistaken.

"You can be at those coordinates in three days?" Coulson confirmed.

Max nodded, unconcerned.

"We will see you there, then." Both agents stood up to leave. They shook hands with each flock member, then the black SUV pulled away and the flock was silent for awhile.

"Wow," Fang said simply.

"Yup." Max looked at her flock. Gazzy and Iggy were in a corner, probably coming up with a list of all the explosives they needed. Nudge was smiling and walking around aimlessly, impatient for the three day wait to be over. Angel looked thoughtful, and Fang was watching Max a little nervously.

"You know, if you're not okay with this…" Fang began, but his voice trailed off.

"No, it's all good," Max said hastily. "I guess it's just that we don't work with other people, you know? And now we're joining a group of super-humans. I mean, we have _wings_. What kind of mutations are other people going to have? It just makes me nervous."

"Yeah," Fang agreed. He was the only person Max ever felt comfortable sharing her feelings with, and then only when they were alone. "At least we've got Angel to tell us if anything is wrong."

Max nodded, thinking about the seven-year-old. She would have to give that kid a good lesson about reading people's minds before they went to the coordinates.

Sensing her anxiousness, Fang pulled her away from the open kitchen and into the hallway. He slid his hand under chin and lifted her face to his, kissing her deeply, and her tension slid away under his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Two people met in an alleyway at night. One had an eye patch; the other was wearing a jacket to cover the strange glow coming from the center of his chest.

"You done getting the group together?" the second one asked.

"Almost," Nick Fury replied. "We just need to visit… a little surprise."

"A surprise?"

"Yes. Six very strange mutants," Fury said, smiling a little.

The one with the glow turned to him. "Is this really a good idea?"

Fury didn't answer at first. "It has to be. This won't be easy. But it will work. And I'm counting on you being part of it."

Tony Stark nodded. "Where do we meet?"

Somewhere in South America, a woman and a man met in a small apartment.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is recruiting the Avengers," the woman said. "They're gathering a group of super-humans to fight in the war."

"War?" the man asked, although he already knew the answer.

"The extraterrestrials aren't happy with how it ended," the woman replied. "You know that we almost weren't strong enough last time, and now it will be worse."

The man didn't answer, just fingered his watch nervously.

"Will you join?" the woman asked finally.

Bruce Banner looked at Natasha Romanoff. Her face was troubled, enough to tell him that she wasn't exaggerating: this would be worse.

"Yes."

In New Mexico, there was a spot where the ground had been imprinted with markings from the Bifrost. Energy from the portal still lingered.

A man with a bow and quiver of arrows looked into the sky. He was standing in the center of the imprint, where the energy was strongest. He could almost feel it buzzing in the air.

He pulled one of the arrows from the quiver. It had been made specifically for this purpose, and there was only one, but the man knew he wouldn't miss. He never missed.

Aiming into the sky, he released the arrow. It soared unnaturally high and disappeared. A slight disturbance in the sky told Hawkeye that it had worked: the message was on its way to Thor.

It was late at night by the time the man reached the school, but lights were still on inside and two figures were walking past the window. He knocked on the door and it was opened by a young woman with white hair streaked gray. Standing behind her was a tough-looking man.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked, looking concerned and confused.

"I'm from S.H.I.E.L.D. We're gathering a group of super-humans to fight the upcoming war."

"Upcoming war?" The man behind her looked suspicious.

"Yes. Is there anyone here who can join?"

Storm looked at Logan. They conversed in low voices for a few minutes.

"This must be pretty bad if they need our help," Storm whispered.

"I don't know if this is a good idea."

"We should help them," she pointed out. "It could boost our reputation. And maybe we need this."

"Maybe we need war?" Logan said sarcastically.

"Maybe we need to work as a team. Interaction." Storm gave him a long look. She knew he was still getting over what had happened to Jean. They all were.

"We'll have to talk to some of the older ones, see if they want to do it," Logan said finally.

Storm smiled and turned back to Steve Rogers.

"We'll join."


End file.
